The book Alcoholics Anonymous, aka The Big Book, is the basic text for the AA program of sobriety. "Alcoholics Anonymous" Copyright 2012 AAWS, Inc. All Rights, Reserved. Short excerpts used by permission of AAWS

HI. I'm a recovering alcoholic, and found this site online. Don't know how it works yet (the site, I mean!). I often don't get to meetings any more due to medical reasons, so thought I'd have a look round online. I have no idea what will happen when I click 'send', but I do have a total trust in the AA program.One of my favourite pieces out of the Big Book is "...There is no more 'aloneness', with that awful ache, so deep in the heart of every alcoholic that nothing, before, could ever reach it. That ache is gone and never need return again. Now there is a sense of belonging, of being wanted and needed and loved. In return for a bottle and a hangover, we have been given the Keys of the Kingdom" (From The Keys of The Kingdom)

Hi and welcome Christal, well it worked when you hit send; this is a site with loads of fine folks who have varying lengths of sobriety and experiences.

For quite a while I used the keys of the kingdom saying as my signature, which is the wording you will see below many posts, (it can be put in by clicking on your name which brings up your profile). I always liked that saying but until now I didn’t know its origin.

We do have others here who find it difficult to attend meetings, please feel free to post anything you wish or ask questions, your pick of the quote is a good one, for really with sites like this there is no more ‘aloneness.’

"Good morning, this is your Higher Power speaking. I will not be needing your help today."

The entire We Agnostics chapter floored me when I first read it probably because I was agnostic my entire life up until AA reached me. It was the chapter that set the hook in me. But if I had to choose it would be on page 55:

for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there

To me, this goes way way beyond alcoholics anonymous. This world is in the disasterous state it's in because of our seperation from God. My past actions before I came to believe contributed to the downfall of society and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a sliver of leftover shame because of it.

I have come to appreciate every minute detail that the old-timers had pieced together to highlight the baffling nature of this disease. Throughout the book they have pointers that the problem of the alcoholic centers in the mind. But what is astonishing is, most of the people easily relate to the phenomenon of craving part and miss the crucial point that the alcoholic cannot stay away from the first drink unless he/she has a spiritual awakening, an attitude shift, a psychic change whatever you call it.

Show him, from your own experience, how the peculiar mental condition surrounding that first drink prevents normal functioning of the will power (Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 92)

avaneesh912 wrote:I have come to appreciate every minute detail that the old-timers had pieced together to highlight the baffling nature of this disease. Throughout the book they have pointers that the problem of the alcoholic centers in the mind. But what is astonishing is, most of the people easily relate to the phenomenon of craving part and miss the crucial point that the alcoholic cannot stay away from the first drink unless he/she has a spiritual awakening, an attitude shift, a psychic change whatever you call it.

Very good point avaneesh912, when I take that first drink I am sober, I don't yet have the "phenomenon of craving" yet, therefore I have a "spiritual malady" and have no defense against that first drink!

As a newcomer my favorite pieces out of the BB were the portions of Chapter 3, Chapter 5, and a "Vision For You" which were read aloud at every meeting I attended. Those readings and words were very comforting to me and kept me coming back.

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Doctor's Opinion, when I read it years ago, it made sense and not much made sense when I first came through those doors of AA..... and it still makes sense today. I just love this part of the Big Book:

"Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one."

this is my favourte part of the book from there is a solution p 21 as it was my first time i ever found out i was not the only one in the world who was like i wasit decribes me to a t, the dr Jekyll mr hyde, the why questions that everyone else wanted to know as to why i would become like i would once i took a drink was huge. i finally found others like me in the world

But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink.Here is a fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around.morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplace the night before. If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the wastepipe. As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can go to work. Then comes the day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. Then he begins to appear at hospitals and sanitariums.This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic, as our behavior patterns vary. But this description should identify him roughly.Why does he behave like this? If hundreds of experiences have shown him that one drink means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it he takes that one drink? Why can't he stay on the water wagon? What has become of the common sense and will power that he still sometimes displays with respect to other matters?Yet early nextmorning he searches madly for the bottle he misplace the night before. If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the wastepipe. As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can go to work. Then comes the day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. Then he begins to appear at hospitals and sanitariums.This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic, as our behavior patterns vary. But this description should identify him roughly. Perhaps there never will be a full answer to these questions. Opinions vary considerably as to why the alcoholic reacts differently from normal people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done for him. We cannot answer the riddle.We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.